Navigation systems are known today which utilize Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to determine, through triangulation techniques, precise locations of devices based upon GPS signals received from the satellites.
Based on these GPS signals, navigation devices utilize mapping information to further indicate location and route of travel via display of navigation maps to the user of the navigation devices. These maps are typically stored in a mass storage device connected to or encompassed within a server, wherein the mapping information is transferred from the mass storage device and server, via a communication channel (internet, TCP/IP, etc.) and into a navigation device.
As data can be compressed and as great amounts of data can be stored in small memory devices, map information is typically downloaded from the server and stored on the navigation device of the user, wherein the user has the ability to purchase map information of different locations around the world. Thus, at any one time, the navigation device itself stores the map information needed for a user to travel along a desired route, noting that additional map information for new areas of the country or of the world, for example, can be purchased and downloaded from a server and mass storage device.
As the navigation device itself stores much map information, the navigation device is able to determine, based upon a route selected (including selection of a travel destination for example, noting that the input position can be determined via GPS information) the maps to be displayed to a user of the navigation device based upon the desired travel route. As the user is exiting an area from one map, and entering an area of another map, the navigation device switches the display from one map to another. This is typically done in a known manner based upon the actual position of the navigation device (typically of the navigation device in the user's vehicle) during travel along a desired route (noting that the user may accidentally or intentionally deviate from the route and in such cases, information along the new route or actual route of travel is displayed). Again, maps are switched in a known manner from a display of one to the next.